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Rio Bravo (1959 film)
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Rio Bravo is a 1959 Western film, directed by Howard Hawks. The script was written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell.
It stars John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, with Angie Dickinson, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Estelita Rodriguez, and Walter Brennan
film was shot at Old Tucson Studios, just outside Tucson, Arizona.
Rio Bravo is generally regarded as one of Hawks' best, and is notable for its scarcity of close-up shots. Actually, two appear in "Rio Bravo." In the opening scene where Joe shoots an unarmed man: Joe's revolver is shown in close-up, and later when Dude pours the whiskey back into a bottle.
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Encyclopedia
Rio Bravo is a 1959 Western film, directed by Howard Hawks. The script was written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell.
It stars John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, with Angie Dickinson, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Estelita Rodriguez, and Walter Brennan
Production
The film was shot at Old Tucson Studios, just outside Tucson, Arizona.
Rio Bravo is generally regarded as one of Hawks' best, and is notable for its scarcity of close-up shots. Actually, two appear in "Rio Bravo." In the opening scene where Joe shoots an unarmed man: Joe's revolver is shown in close-up, and later when Dude pours the whiskey back into a bottle. It features a long opening scene with absolutely no dialogue. The film received favorable reviews, and was financially successful, earning over US$5.5 million.
The musical score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. His score contains the haunting tune "El Degüello," which is played several times to build tension. When a character asks for the name of this tune, he is told that it is the "Cutthroat Song," played on the orders of Antonio López de Santa Anna to the Texans holed up in the Alamo to signify that no quarter would be given. The tune was used in the following year, over the opening credits of Wayne's film, The Alamo. Composer Ennio Morricone recalled director Sergio Leone requesting him to write "Dimitri Tiomkin music" for A Fistful of Dollars. The trumpet theme is similar to Tiomkin's "Deguella" while the Italian title of Rio Bravo was Un Dollaro D'onore.
Because the film starred a crooner, Martin, and a teen idol, Nelson, Hawks included three songs in the soundtrack. Before the big showdown, in the jail house, Martin sings "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" (which contained new lyrics to a Tiomkin tune that appeared in Red River) accompanied by Nelson, after which Nelson sings a brief version of "Get Along Home, Cindy," accompanied by Martin and Brennan. Over the closing credits, Martin, backed by the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, sings a specially composed song, "Rio Bravo." Nelson later paid homage to both the film and his character, Colorado, by including the song "Restless Kid" on his 1959 LP, Ricky Sings Again.
A brief clip from Rio Bravo was among the archive footage later incorporated into the opening sequence of Wayne's last film, The Shootist, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne's character.
Plot
In the town of Rio Bravo, Dude ("Borachón"; played by Dean Martin), the town drunk, enters a saloon wanting a drink. Joe Burdette (Claude Akins), seeing Dude eying his glass, throws a silver dollar into a spittoon to mock him. Just as Dude goes for the spittoon, Presidio County, Texas, Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) kicks the spittoon away, looking at Dude with pity and disgust. As Chance turns to face Joe Burdette, Dude grabs a small piece of firewood and clubs Chance on the head, knocking him unconscious. Dude then starts toward Burdette, but two of his hired cow punchers grab Dude. Burdette starts to beat Dude with the two men holding him. A bystander grabs Burdette's arm so he can't swing on Dude again. Burdette draws his gun and shoots the bystander in the stomach. The close-up of Joe's revolver discharging is the first close-up in the film. Burdette then leaves the saloon and heads for another one thinking that he can do no wrong.
In the second saloon, after Burdette has another drink, Sheriff Chance enters with his Winchester aimed at Burdette, to arrest him for the murder of the bystander. One of Burdette's men then draws his Colt revolver on Chance and creates a stalemate. Dude enters behind two of Burdette's men and then takes the revolver of the man standing in front of him and shoots the gun out of the hand of the Burdette man. Chance then whips Burdette across the face with the rifle, knocking him unconscious. Chance and Dude drag Burdette out of the saloon, headed for the jail.
Joe Burdette is the brother of a powerful rancher, Nathan Burdette (John Russell). The rancher's men then quarantine the town in preparation to breaking Burdette out of jail. The only help Chance has are his deputies Dude and Stumpy (Walter Brennan), an old cripple. Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), a wagoneer, enters town with a wagon load of supplies from Fort Worth. Tensions are further strained by the presence of a young gunslinger hired by Wheeler to guard his wagons, Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson), and the arrival of a mysterious woman, Feathers (Dickinson), who becomes romantically involved with Chance.
High Noon debate
The film was made as a response to High Noon, which is sometimes thought to be an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, as well as a critique of McCarthyism, according to Graham. Wayne teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way. Hawks and Wayne were offended by High Noon; Johnson quotes Hawks as saying he didn't believe the marshal, played by Gary Cooper, would "go running around town like a chicken with his head off asking for help." Wayne was a conservative and a firm supporter of blacklisting. They were offended too that Kane was abandoned by almost everyone (except at the last minute his Quaker bride, played by Grace Kelly). In "Rio Bravo", Chance is surrounded by allies—a deputy recovering from alcoholism, a young gunfighter, an old man, a Mexican innkeeper, and an attractive young woman—and repeatedly turns down aid from anyone he doesn't think is capable of helping him, though in the final shootout they come to help him anyway.
Remakes and inspirations
Remakes
The film has been informally remade twice as a Western, although on each occasion under a different title. Both of these remakes were directed by Hawks, both starred John Wayne and in each case, the script was written by Leigh Brackett.
El Dorado, was released in 1967. In this film, Robert Mitchum played the Dean Martin role, Arthur Hunnicutt the Walter Brennan character and James Caan the Ricky Nelson role. Hawks again named the Nelson/Caan character after a state (in this case, Mississippi) and in a wry, humorous twist on the original film, Hawks made him inept with firearms, but skilled with a knife.The second remake, Rio Lobo, was made in 1970 with a plot much farther off the original mold, starting with the absence of a lawman-turned-drunkard character. This began with a Confederate train robbery of a Union gold shipment during the American Civil War, then moved to a post-war Texas county thoroughly controlled by a rich, arrogant rancher. The heroes, with the exception of an old man similar to Brennan's and Hunnicutt's characters in the previous pictures (Jack Elam here), were complete outsiders. Along with Wayne and Elam, this movie starred Mexican film star Jorge Rivero (as Frenchie), Christopher Mitchum (Robert Mitchum's son) and Jennifer O'Neill.
Inspirations
Assault on Precinct 13, John Carpenter's 1976 film, though not a remake of Rio Bravo, was inspired by the film. Carpenter borrowed some elements from the earlier film's plot but set his film in 1970s Los Angeles. He also paid homage to the original film by using the pseudonym "John T. Chance," the name of Wayne's character in Rio Bravo, for his editing credit. A remake of Carpenter's film was released in 2005. The remake, also called Assault on Precinct 13, was directed by Jean-Francois Richet and set in Detroit, Michigan. This is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films.
Footnotes
External links
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